| Messent Conservation Park | |
|---|---|
  Messent Conservation Park | |
| Location | South Australia |
| Nearest city | Salt Creek[2] |
| Coordinates | 36°03′32″S139°46′22″E / 36.058757299°S 139.772756512°E /-36.058757299; 139.772756512[1] |
| Area | 115.83 km2 (44.72 sq mi)[3] |
| Established | 9 January 1964 (1964-01-09)[4] |
| Governing body | Department for Environment and Water |
Messent Conservation Park, formerly the Messent National Park and the Messent Wildlife Reserve, is aprotected area in the Australian state ofSouth Australia located in the state’s south-east in the gazetted localities ofColebatch andDeepwater about 164 kilometres (102 mi) south-east of the state capital ofAdelaide and about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north-east of the town centre inSalt Creek.[2][5]
The conservation park consists of land in sections 1 and 65 of the cadastral unit of theHundred of Colebatch and sections 1 and 10 in the cadastral unit of theHundred of Messent. Section 1 in the Hundred of Messent first acquired protected area status as a wild-life reserve proclaimed under theCrown Lands Act 1929. On 9 November 1967, this land was proclaimed as theMessent National Park under theNational Parks Act 1966. On 18 June 1970, section 1 in the Hundred of Colebatch was added to the national park. On 27 April 1972, the national park was reconstituted as theMessent Conservation Park under theNational Parks and Wildlife Act 1972. On 6 December 1979, section 65 in Hundred of Colebatch and section 19 in Hundred of Messent were added to the conservation park.[6][4][7][8][9] As of 2018, it covered an area of 115.83 square kilometres (44.72 sq mi).[3]
In 1980, the conservation park was described as follows:[5]
Messent Conservation Park conserves a large area of open scrub, open heath and tussock sedgeland, which include seven rare plant species. These associations, in turn, provide valuable habitat forwestern grey kangaroos,wombats,echidnas,ash-grey mice,emus,mallee fowl and a variety of waterbirds…This park is an extensive area of sand plain overlain by stabilized sand dunes. Sedge flats, swamps and a lake occur in the interdunal depressions. The vegetation is primarilyEucalyptus diversifolia open scrub with relatively large areas of open heath and tussock sedgeland…
Messent is currently recovering (regenerating) from a recent bushfire (1977). The swamps and lake do not fill to the same level as they used to in the past and this may be attributed (at least in part) to the drainage of swampy land further to the south…
The conservation park is categorised as anIUCN Category III protected area[1] In 1980, it was listed on the now-defunctRegister of the National Estate.[5]
This article incorporatestext byCommonwealth of Australia available under theCC BY 3.0 AU licence.